Authorities seized $19.5 million worth of fake NFL merchandise and made 52 arrests as part of "Operation Team Player."

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Now that the Super Bowl is over, it’s time to asses the damage.

Not the wounded pride of Seahawk’s fans, but the millions of dollars counterfeiters swiped by making counterfeit versions of popular football jerseys. At least in this case, some of the counterfeits were seized before they could have been sold.

That was the goal of the “Operation Team Player,” which snatched $19.5 million worth of counterfeit NFL merchandise. Everything from fake jerseys to T-shirts were found over the course of the operation, which lasted a year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Sarah Saldana spoke about the operation during a press conference, and got to heart of threat posed by counterfeiters.

"It is most certainly not a victimless crime,” she said. Whether it's the child in Southeast Asia working in deplorable conditions, or local stores going out of business, intellectual property theft is a very real crime with very real victims."

Detectives said the counterfeit items included 41 Michael Kors purses, Gucci and Louis Vuitton belts, as well as Ray Ban and Dolce and Gabbana eyeglasses.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Counterfeits are targeting the most popular brands– all in the hopes of swindling you out of your hard-earned money.

Everyday, stories that prove this fact true are happening all over the world. The latest is this story coming out of Memphis, Tennessee man was accused of trying to sell more than $46,000 in counterfeit merchandise.

An investigation discovered that the man in question was selling fake purses from behind a gas station– that’s right, a gas station.

Authorities later raided his home and found merchandise bearing the logos of brands like 41 Michael Kors, Gucci, Louis Vuitton belts, Ray Ban, and Dolce and Gabbana.

Poshmark has launched a new service that allows women to check that their purchases of luxury items are the real deal.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Followers of this blog will know that buying products online can be tricky with so many counterfeiters taking to the Internet.

Counterfeiters can replicate the appearance of a legitimate website, making difficult to determine fact from fiction.

Luxury fashion company Poshmark has launched a new service that aims to take the burden off of the consumer when trying to spot the counterfeits.

Dubbed Posh Concierge, the service acts an intermediary between the seller and buyer of online luxury goods.

Here’s how it works: Goods purchased through Posh Concierge are not immediately sent to their buyer. Instead, they’re first sent to a team of Posh Concierge experts, who verify that the product is legitimate and not a counterfeit. From there, the product is sent to buyer with the Posh Concierge seal of approval.

The principle behind the service, validating the quality of the good on it’s journey to the recipient, is the fundamental building block of Applied DNA Sciences SigNature DNA anti-countering technology.

SigNature DNA uses unique, plant-DNA markers to track and authenticate virtually any item or product as it moves across the supply chain. To learn more, visit our website:http://www.adnas.com

Photo: Getty Images From Urban Outfitters copying the designs of independent artists to Zara passing off runway looks as its own to the counterfeit handbags for sale on the...

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Counterfeiters are resilient, and sap an estimated $600 billion annually from the global economy, according to the World Trademark Review.

One the reasons for this is because they are quick to adapt to changing trends. This article from Racked.com outlines how counterfeiting is impacting the fashion industry and highlights one of most controversial plot-twists in counterfeiting history.

The article describes how the first cases of counterfeiting began when early artists’ work was being blatantly forged. To protect their work, the artists started to sign their work, ensuring that others could know for sure which was the legitimate work of art. Over time, that signature evolved into the modern label that’s seen on virtually every consumer good. And for brands like Coach and Louis Vuitton, that label became very valuable.

But here’s the twist.

Counterfeiters realized this, and began focusing their efforts on duplicating the label, not just the product. That’s allowed them to slip under the radar, and swindle unsuspecting consumers out of their money.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Applied DNA Sciences’ SigNature DNA anti-counterfeiting technology is the signature of the modern age. It’s unique DNA marks cannot be copied, and are the gold standard for any business or artists looking to protect the authenticity of their work. Visit our website to learn more:http://www.adnas.com

Wedding season may be winding down and prom may be months away, but that isn’t stopping the senator from New Jersey from stepping up efforts to fight fake designer dresses.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

“The domestic prom and bridal dress industry is increasingly under threat from Chinese dress manufacturers and websites that sell counterfeit goods directly to U.S. consumers,”

Counterfeiting is a rampant epidemic in the prom and bridal dress industry. According to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J), 700, 000 bridal and prom dresses enter the U.S., which is sapping around $1 billion from U.S. businesses. Worse still, many of those affected are small businesses, which will not survive longer under this tide of counterfeits. Menendez has since called on the Obama Administration to crackdown on counterfeit goods. Applied DNA Sciences SigNature DNA anti-counterfeiting technology can help. To learn more, visit our website: http://www.adnas.com/

Applied DNA Sciences' MeiLin Wan and Thomas Gladkte at the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Specialty Fabrics Expo in Minneapolis, extending from October 14 – 16, 2014. APDN is co-exhibiting with Pillar Technologies, a business unit of the industrial technology giant ITW, a leading provider of induction cap sealers and technologically advanced surface treatment technologies.Pillar and APDN will be introducing DNA Plasma Treatment Solutions for authenticating textiles. The new platform combines Pillar's noted next-generation packaging, sealing, and coating technology with APDN's SigNature® DNA authentication, the gold standard in preventing identity fraud in textiles and apparel. Visitors are invited to Booth #A2815. As well, the two companies will present "New Developments in Fabric Anti-Counterfeiting Technology” on October 14th at 3:00 PM

This about sums it up: American flags have been counterfeited in China, brought to the US and sold as the real thing.

27 pallets-worth of flags, masquerading as items manufactured by New Jersey-based Annin Flagmakers, were seized by law enforcement agents in Huntington Park, California last week.

The flag caper is a staggering irony, but it is also symptomatic of the huge and growing problem of counterfeit trade in textiles and apparel, a problem greatly in need of an anti-counterfeit solution.

APDN's SigNature® T and fiberTyping® Technologies can protect textiles of all sorts from counterfeiting. Click here for more detail:

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) says it has so far closed down over 2,500 websites selling counterfeit goods, since it was launched in September last year by City of London Police.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

London Police are cracking down on websites that sell counterfeit textiles and accessories, as part of an ongoing collaboration between law enforcement, brand owners and website registries.

Head of Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), DCI Andy Fyfe, said: “This is evidence of our commitment to clamp down on intellectual property crime. Behind many of these websites lies an organised crime gang funnelling off the money spent by unsuspecting customers on what they think are quality products."

Knockoff designer goods pose can pose more of an inconvenience to consumers than just shoddy quality. By sending credit card information to fraudulent websites, which are often run by organized gangs, unsuspecting buyers risk identity theft and exposing their computers to malware. Not to mention the fact that the money "earned" by selling fake designer goods is used to fund other, more violent endeavors.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Counterfeit clothing sales land Las Vegas man in jail Las Vegas Sun Henderson Police have arrested a man suspected of selling counterfeit high-fashion clothing such as Gucci and True Religion on the Internet and at a store.

Agreed. But a huge issue is omitted: indentured child labor. In fact by buying those "harmless" counterfeits, even in a suburban living room tea party, consumers are unwittingly contributing to one of the most horrific examples of modern indentured labor.

Reading from her book, "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster," Newsweek author Dana Thomas is show in a YouTube video, relating: "I remember walking into an assembly plant in Thailand a couple of years ago and seeing six or seven little children, all under 10 years old, sitting on the floor assembling counterfeit leather handbags,’ an investigator told me … ‘The owners had broken the children’s legs and tied the lower leg to the thigh so the bones wouldn't mend. [They] did it because the children said they wanted to go outside and play.’ ”

In one heartbreaking story after another, Thomas describes the filthy conditions and indentured status of the children in places like China and Thailand, assembling fake luxury handbags and other goods.

Applied DNA Sciences' SigNature® DNA and SigNature® T platforms to mark and verify authenticity of items deep at the supply chain source, sometimes as in the case of textiles, marking the fibers themselves. You can be sure they are originals. Ask your retailer if they are using SigNature® T to ensure originality of their garments and accessories.

In a raid conducted by the Anti-piracy Task Force of Ghana, 378 pieces of pirated textiles have just been seized.

According to John Kwesi Amoah, assistant manager in charge of Brand Protection at Akosombo Textiles Limited, the original goal of the task force was to educate local traders on the counterfeit goods, but despite this, some trades still dealt in the illegal goods.

Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime, and the economic damage wrought by them can break economies and shutter businesses.

It’s no secret that wedding dresses are expensive, and with the average cost of one well over a thousand dollars, it can be a daunting purchase.

Because of this, some brides-to-be have turned to cheaper counterfeit wedding dresses.

That’s a terrible idea.

Made from shoddy materials, and sold from shady dealers, there is no guarantee the dress will hold up when it’s time to walk down the aisle– if it even gets that far.

Counterfeiters are criminals, are there’s nothing to stop them from taking your money and running with it. That’s why websites like The Knot have produced guides on how to avoid the counterfeiters, and protect consumers.

How to check that your new designer handbag isn't fake or counterfeit, with advice from the team behind Vestiaire Collective

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Spotting counterfeit goods is harder than you might think. Designer clothing and apparel, which typically retail in the hundreds of dollars, are an especially prime target for counterfeiters. Harper’s Bazzar aims to make spotting the fake easier with its handy guide on how to spot counterfeits. From checking to make sure a logo is spelled correctly, to checking the quality of the material, these tips can help out any consumer. To learn more about counterfeiting, and Applied DNA Sciences SigNature DNA anti-counterfeiting technology, please visit our website:http://www.adnas.com/

Cartier has continued its campaign against online counterfeit sales with a lawsuit citing a number of ISPs.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

The rapid expansion of the Internet has made tracking down counterfeit goods-- which are mainly sold online-- extremely difficult. This has led to a game of whack-a-mole where legitimate goods producers will hunt down the websites responsible for peddling counterfeit goods. That’s the case here, as luxury goods maker Cartier sues half a dozen of the United Kingdom’s largest Internet service providers for hosting counterfeit-selling websites. But Cartier was only able to identify the ISPs after the illicit goods began reaching consumers, which are sapping funds from Cartier. With Applied DNA Sciences’ SigNature DNA anti-counterfeiting technology Cartier could have its products authenticated at every step of the supply chain, ensuring that consumers wouldn’t be tricked into buying counterfeit goods. To learn more, please visit our website:http://www.adnas.com/

With counterfeit clothing in the news on a regular basis, as a consumer what can you do to ensure that the item you’re looking to purchase is the genuine article. Below are ten top tips on how to easily...

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Online marketplaces like eBay are rampant with counterfeit goods, and recently, they are being held accountable for them. To combat this tide of fakes, eBay has produced a handy guide for consumers on how to avoid purchasing one of the most counterfeited types of goods-- designer clothing and accessories. From checking to make sure the brand’s label is spelled correctly to being skeptical of claims being “100% genuine,” this is a handy set of tips. To learn more about counterfeiting, and Applied DNA Sciences’ SigNature DNA anti-counterfeiting technology, please visit our website: http://www.adnas.com/textiles-and-apparel

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer secured a permanent injunction barring two apparel and accessories merchants from the LA Fashion District, where they allegedly sold counterfeit items.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Los Angeles has secured a permanent injunction barring two apparel and accessories merchants from the L.A. Fashion District, where they allegedly sold counterfeit items. It is the largest counterfeiting judgment in the city’s history (26.245 million).

Undercover investigations resulted in the recovery of more than 10,498 counterfeit apparel and related items.

Still, by many accounts, seizures intercept only a small fraction of counterfeits crossing borders worldwide.

Since the 1960s, Ghana has seen its textile industry drop from over 30,000 workers, to less than 3,000.The cause? Pirated goods, according to Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsoh, Ghana’s upper east regional minister.

All over the world, pirated and counterfeit goods are sapping the jobs and livelihoods of hardworking people.In this article on the Ghanaian government’s website, Ghana outlines its plan to bolster legitimate business in the hope that they turn away from counterfeiting, which is running rampant throughout the country.

The Herald | HeraldOnline.com Detectives seize more than $7700 in counterfeit goods WSOC Charlotte Detectives said the items were counterfeit NFL and NBA jerseys and hats, and the other clothing items were from assorted designer labels such as True...

It is difficult for consumers to measure quality when buying sheets, with prices that vary wildly. Thread counts can be misleading. Now, bedding is the latest industry to be disrupted by entrepreneurs such as Boll & Branch who sell direct to consumers on the Internet.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

In the market for a luxury linens set to match that comfy new bed? How does $1000 a set strike you? $2,000? $2,740, if it's a Frette's "Tangeri Pizzo?"

Wall Street Journal wants us to know some things before we count out the thousands.

Thread count — the number of threads, or plies per inch — WSJ tells us, is the most widely known measure of quality. But, the paper says, that measurement can be misleading. Do your new sheets really contain 100% of the finest cottons, such as American Pima, or Egyptian Giza, as the label claims? Because, if not, the number of threads per inch means very little.

Applied DNA Sciences' textiles identity assurance platform, using technologies such as fiberTyping® and SigNature® T, lets producers and consumers know that they are getting the very best. For more detail, click here

Sorry to do this to you at lunchtime, but we have news you may want to sit down for.

Applied DNA Sciences's insight:

Refinery29 tells us that more than 1 million items of apparel were seized by police in Rome last week. Labeled as cashmere, the various items actually contained "acrylic, viscose, and fur from rats and other animals." Counterfeit merino wool, silk and pashmina garments were also seized, all containing counterfeit textiles and counterfeit fiber of some kind. According to the BBC, "Counterfeiting is widespread in China, in domestic and export markets, leading Beijing to step up its efforts to crack down on the practice. Taiwan's Want China Times says fake goods are a "way of life" in many rural areas, with people having "no choice but to accept counterfeit and defective goods." Counterfeit textiles and apparel operate in an extremely complex global supply system. Any anti-counterfeit solution which aims to address this, must be versatile enough to assure identity at many different nodes in this complicated supply-chain, and with the versatility to bind to dozens of differing fibers. Applied DNA Sciences new identity assurance platform for textiles and apparel, SigNature® T, can handle the job.

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